Ch. 233 - Poop Monster, Forever the GOAT

"ROAR!"

The Inferno Raging Tiger and the Extreme Ice Bird rushed in to help.

A vast sheet of frost swept forward like fog, rolling outward to envelop the Slime entirely.

The Extreme Ice Bird was trying to lock down the Slime long enough to rescue the Wood Elemental.

In that instant, the Slime's body blazed gold. It activated Tyrant Body, shrugging off the frost's control with complete immunity.

The Inferno Raging Tiger lunged, claws wreathed in scorching flame, trying to tear through the Slime's hide.

The Slime shut its eyes. It sank into Sleep-Kill, tanked the tiger's assault head-on, and let its monstrous defense do the talking.

Only a little over a month had passed, but the Slime's combat power had grown considerably since their last encounter.

"We can't keep this up!"

The Daxing City Beast Tamer called it. They recalled the Wood Elemental back into their Beast Space at once.

If they let it go on any longer, the damage would become permanent. This was a competition -- it was not worth crippling a Contract Spirit over.

"Goo-gii..."

The Slime did not give chase. It held its position, waiting for Charge's cooldown to tick back down.

ROAR!

The Inferno Raging Tiger poured everything it had into the window. It had to seize this one opportunity.

The moment the Slime recovered its skill, the tiger would be next.

Finally, after weathering a barrage of attacks, the Slime's defense cracked. Blood welled up from the gaps.

But its vitality was every bit as monstrous as its body. Finishing it off in a short window was the stuff of fantasy.

"My turn."

Chen Shu grinned. The Slime's wounds looked bad, but none of them were serious.

Charge fired the moment it came off cooldown. The Slime's speed surged several times over. Wind screamed around it as it moved, its presence alone enough to shake the air.

The Inferno Raging Tiger and the Extreme Ice Bird could both fly, but the Slime had no intention of being left behind. It shifted straight into Flight Mode.

This new development shattered whatever was left of the audience's sense of reality.

That enormous thing could fly?

"This kid... his control is something else."

Up in the private box, the middle-aged man could not hold back a word of genuine admiration.

For an Apprentice Beast Tamer to pull this off, they were absolutely in the genius tier.

"Hold on -- wait for my skills to come back!"

Xia Yan called out, eyes tracking the Slime as it bore down on the Extreme Ice Bird. A fragment of relief escaped him.

At least it's not targeting me.

Better you than me, teammate.

"I'll do my best!"

The teammate answered, though their voice had more uncertainty than confidence in it. And fear. A lot of fear.

When the Slime actually came bearing down -- that enormous backside aiming right for the Extreme Ice Bird -- the fear became very real indeed.

They made a decision.

"Sorry, I'm out!"

The Extreme Ice Bird vanished in an instant.

No teleportation. No invisibility. It was recalled directly into its Beast Space.

"In the clutch moment, you -- really?!"

Xia Yan's expression darkened. He hadn't expected his teammate to just fold right there.

Now it was the Slime and the Inferno Raging Tiger, staring each other down across the platform.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the Inferno Raging Tiger chose this exact moment to stop listening.

Xia Yan's brow furrowed. He moved to force it back into the Beast Space.

"Meow~~"

The Inferno Raging Tiger opened its enormous jaws... and let out something that sounded exactly like a tiny kitten.

"What the..."

The entire arena stared at the scene in front of them, mouths wide enough to fit a football.

An S-rank Contract Spirit. And it had broken like this?

Sleep-Kill had worn off. The Slime blinked open its round, wide eyes and closed the gap with the tiger at a leisurely pace.

Everyone thought the two spirits were about to have a friendly exchange.

Then in a flash, the Slime launched itself into the air in a sneak attack.

"Holy crap -- you're genuinely underhanded, you know that?!"

Xia Yan's heart plummeted. At the very last second, he recalled the Inferno Raging Tiger into the Beast Space.

He shook his head. That stupid tiger -- it had actually tried acting cute to get the Slime to back off.

Did it forget who it was dealing with? This was the Nanjiang Bandit's Contract Spirit.

Sure, it looked adorable on the outside. But underneath, it was ruthless to the core.

And on top of that, the Slime's obedience toward Chen Shu was off the charts. Even if it had wanted to stand down, Chen Shu's command would have overridden it.

With that, all three of Daxing City's members had recalled their spirits. The match was over.

From start to finish, Chen Shu had fought with only the Slime. Xia Bing and Xu Xiaoyu had simply watched from the sideline.

The Slime stood in the middle of the Spirit Fighting Arena like a thug who had just cleared the block. The entire arena went dead silent.

"Is this... Beast Taming?"

Someone finally said what everyone was thinking. Everything they had known about the field felt like it had just been smashed apart.

One against three. A complete shutout. And the other side had included an S-rank Contract Spirit -- it was not supposed to be this simple.

As the arena held its collective breath, the scene was playing out across every city in Nancang Province at the same time.

"The very first match of the competition is this chaotic?"

"Is this an opening ceremony performance or something? A Slime just beat two A-ranks and an S-rank...?"

At Nanjiang Second High.

The entire school had canceled classes for the day to watch the provincial Beast Taming Competition live.

Chen Shu might have been the school's biggest troublemaker who bullied classmates on a daily basis, but he still represented Second High's honor. Of course they were going to watch his first match.

When the Slime's terrifying power came through the screen, every single student broke into stunned cheering.

The Special Training Class, meanwhile, went quiet.

You had to be in the same class as Chen Shu to really understand what it meant to feel powerless. No matter how hard you worked, no matter how hard you chased, you could not even see his back.

And the worst part was that his strength made no logical sense whatsoever.

"I thought producing Fang Si was the peak of my teaching career. Turns out there's a Chen Shu waiting on the other side."

Shen Wushuang murmured to himself. He had the quiet sense that Chen Shu might very well be the most exceptional student he had ever taught.

By his estimation, Chen Shu had already climbed into the ranks of Huaxia's top-tier talents -- someone who could hold his own against the best Beast Tamers on the world stage.

Elsewhere, at Nanjiang City Hall, Mayor Zhou was watching in silence.

He had been right. Letting Chen Shu represent the city at the competition was the correct call.

Then his expression went stiff.

On screen, Chen Shu turned around and started rummaging through his backpack. The Mayor had a bad feeling.

A moment later, Chen Shu produced a megaphone and cranked the volume to maximum. He played a recording he had clearly prepared in advance.

The megaphone's sound punched through the arena's silence and echoed across the entire Spirit Fighting Arena.

"Attention, contestants! Everyone, look this way!"

The crowd turned, confused.

"I'll say this one final time. Any team that draws the Nanjiang Bandit should surrender on the spot. Do not, under any circumstances, hold out any hope that things will go differently."

"And if your Contract Spirit should happen to get crushed to death, do not doubt it for a second -- yes, I did that on purpose!!"

"Also -- anyone want my autograph? Just 99,998 yuan a pop! Order now while you can, dear~!"

Three sentences. Ten thousand people fell into complete, stunned silence.

Everyone had thought the Slime was already the strangest thing Beast Taming had to offer. Its owner, it turned out, was even harder to describe.

"Let's hear it for Nanjiang City's team, who have advanced to the top sixteen!"

The hosts rushed onto the platform. If Chen Shu kept going, nobody could predict what would happen next.

The crowd snapped back to life. Out of nowhere, one voice rang out above the rest.

"Poop Monster, forever the GOAT!"

And then the whole arena followed.

"Poop Monster, forever the GOAT!"

"Poop Monster, forever the GOAT!"

The noise built and built until it hit the ceiling and came back down again.